St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-15
DR.. TRIruLGkS.
A SIGNIFICANT STORY BY JULES vEHNl

under the blasts that sweep the Vol
Siniau shore and dasheS its fury against
the slopes of the mountains of Crimma.
The rock-bound coast is rent and riven
10y the tempeStuouS pillows that surge
and foam along the vast Megalocrida
sea. Whit" "Swashr'
In the dephth of the bay neStles the
little seaport town of LuktrOp. 1t
boasts few hundred houses with
grceniSh mirad0reS sheltering them
from the winds of the main, and four or
five steep streets that look more like the
beds OF mountain torrent than public
thoroughtares. Not far OFF smokes the
Nmglcr, an active volcano, which by
day belcheS forth thick volumes of sui
phurous Vapor and by night fitful floods
of flame. This crater, visible fully $50
kertScS out at sea. answers the purpose
of a beacon, and guides home to Lux
trop the cOaSterS-yawlS, SHOWS, boys
and d0ggerS-that plow the troubled
waters of the Megalocrida.
On the other side of the town are
hcapcd up extensive ruins of the Grim
merriam era; while the suburb. of Moor
iSh aspect, with its white walls. round
roofs and terraces, calcined by the sun
seems Il huge pile OF square stones
thrown together ut hap-haZzard, and
afar'Otf reminds you of 4 caSbah or AL
gerian fortress. The whole mass, in
fact. looks like cluster of dice. the
dots of which have been Worn away
with age. Among other structures pc
culiar to the place may be seen an
odd looking building called the
"SiX-Quatre" from the number CT
its windows, six in front and
four in the rear. n Steeple arises above
the town, with the square steeple of st.
Philtilen. with its bells visible through
the open StoneWOrk, and when they are
Swung-aS they are at times-by the
storm il is accounted q bad sign, and
the good people of the place are filled
with fear at the omen.
Such is Luktrop, with few stray
houses on the heath beyond, scattered
amid the broom and furZe, as in Brit
tany. Luktr0p, however, is not in
Brittany. Is it in France? ] cannot
say. In Europe? ! don't know. At
any rate. it would be useless perhaps to
look up the place on the map, even in
Steiler's atlas.
\ discreet rap is heard at the small,
narrow door of the "SiX-Quatre," on the
left-hand corner of the Rue MeSsagiere
a comfortable house is the ''SiX-Qua-
ire if such word is. known in Lux
trop, and one of the thriftieSt in the
place, if to earn on an average few
thousand fretZerS year is sign of
thrift.
\ ferocious yelp, something between
bark and Il howl, has answered the
rap. Soon window above the door of
the 'SiX-Quatrei is thrown open and an
angry voice from the inside bawls out:
10 the devil with all intruders!''
A young-girl, shiyering in the rain,
with Seedy. WORKOUT cape thrown
over her shoulders, inquiries if DR.. Tri-
fulgaS is lit home.
He is or isn't. that depends
Il come for father, who is DYING
"And where is he dying?'
"By the Val Karniou, four kertses
hence"
And what's his name?"
wort Kartif."
"What, Wort Kartif, the herring
curer?'
Yes; and if DR.. Trifulgas would
only come"
DIR. Trifulgas isn't at home"
And the window is brutally closed in
the poor girls face, while the whiffs of
the wind and the SwaSh of the rain out
side mix their voices in roaring and
deafening din.
a hard man is Dr.. Trifulgas. with but
little feeling for fellow-creature. and
one who attends patient only if hand
SOmcly paid in adVanc for his services.
His OfN dog. lluTZof. a cross between a
bull and a spaniel. might be said to have
more heart than he. The door of the"SiX-
Quatre" remains invariably closed upon
the poor and opens only to the rich.
Moreover. DR.. Trifuigas has IA whole
scale OF feeS-typhoid fever, so much:
brain fever, so much: SO much for a
npTIg1riItlS and thn for ~ N nv
more diseases as doctors choose to invent
by the dozen. And Wort Kartif, the her
rlng-curer. Is poor man with penni-
less brood, Why, then. should DR..
Trifulgas bedeyil himself, and on such
night?
housing me from my Sleep snuff
fled he. as he went to bed again, lis
alone worth 10 fretZers."
twenty minutes had scarcely gone by
when the iron knocker again woke the
echoes of the ''SiX-Quatre." Grumb-
ling, the doctor got out of bed and from
the window grOwled:
WHO'S Thereof
Wort Kartif'S wife,
The hcrring-curer from Val Kar-
niou?"
Yes, and if you don't come he'll die"
We'll, you'll then be widow
Here are 20fretZers."
"Twenty fretZersu' muttered he:
''what windfall to be sure. Run the
risk of catching cold and Iumbago for
such sum. when I've got to attend to-
morrow morning the equity, but wealthy
EdZingov. at KiltrenS. whose ailment is
worth to me 80 fretZers ii minute? Not
/, indeed.'
And with this pleasant prospect DR..
Irifulgas sought his bed and went to
sleep again as Soundly as before.
".
Whit, splash. and then rap rap rap !
Three blows from the knocker, struck
with firm hand added their rattle this
time to the noise of the storm. The
doctor, startled in his slumber, got up in
towering passion. On opening his
window the storm swept in like a Whirl-
wind.
Ills for the herring-curer."
What, that wretch again?'
81 am his mOther..'
MAY his mother, wife and daughter
die with him!'
lis a fit
."Aye, and tight one, no Doubt
chuckled the doctor in his rage.
1--WE have little money!" said the old
woman, IAN inStallment on the house
sold to Dantrup, the drayman of the Rue
MeSsagliere. If you don't come, my
granddaughter will be without father
my daughter without husband and
myself without son."
1t was heartrending and horrible tc
hear the old woman's voice. and to think
that the icy wind froze the blood in heI
veins and nipped the very bones under
her skin.
"a fit, say your Then the fee is 2O(
fYetZers,'' reioined the heartless leech
I'VE have only 100"
"Good night, then!" and once more
the window was closed.
~ On the second thought, however, he